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The Scuttling at Scapa Flow

Scapa Flow, Orkney

The German fleet sank itself rather than be handed over.

After the First World War, 74 German warships were held in Scapa Flow while the peace treaty was decided. On 21 June 1919, while most British ships were away on exercise, Admiral von Reuter gave a secret signal, and his crews opened the valves.

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When
21 June 1919
Where
58.8800, -3.1700
Group
Shipwrecks

Visiting

Dive trips run from Stromness. Glass-bottomed boat trips show some of the wrecks.

Cover of Blood and Gold by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

Blood and Gold

Sixteen true stories of mutiny, mercy, treasure and the gallows from the Golden Age of Piracy: Henry Every, Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts, Edward England, Howell Davis, Christopher Moody, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Charles Vane, Benjamin Hornigold, Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Israel Hands, Calico Jack, Edward Low, Captain William Kidd and Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy. Where the record is uncertain, the book says so.

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